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Quantum mechanics enables ‘impossible’ space chemistry

QUANTUM weirdness can forge a molecule in space that shouldn’t exist by classical chemistry rules.

Astronomers recently detected methoxy radicals in the Perseus molecular cloud, 600 light years away. Hydroxyl radicals and methanol gas can react to make methoxy radicals, but only if they have enough energy, which is impossible in the cold of space.

Dwayne Heard of the University of Leeds, UK, and colleagues suspected the process of quantum tunnelling might kick in. It would allow hydroxyl to cheat by digging through the reaction’s energy “barrier”. Indeed, when the team chilled hydroxyl and methanol vapour, they made methoxy radicals (Nature Chemistry, doi.org/m4g).

The cold slows the molecules so they contact for longer when they collide, making tunnelling more likely. It seems space chemistry is richer than we thought.

This article appeared in print under the headline “Space chemistry breaks the rules”